fogo island - noisy classroom• fogo island is a real island in cape verde, with an active volcano...

FOGO ISLANDLiving Near Volcanoes

This is a lesson plan designed to get students to think about why people might live near volcanoes, and what might be the best use of land adjacent to a volcano. The scenario involved a class divided into different (fictitious) industry groups on the (actually-existing) island of Fogo, Cape Verde. Different groups will make arguments over a structured series of steps in order to try and convince a group playing as the government of Fogo that they and their selected partners should be allowed to use land next to the island’s active volcano.

BACKGROUND• Fogo island is a real island in Cape Verde, with an active volcano on one side of

the island, and 37,200 residents.• The island has seen volcanic eruptions in 1680, 1951, 1995 and 2014. • ‘Fogo’ in Portuguese means ‘Fire’. Fogo is literally a ‘fire island’.• Fogo even has a sports team, the Vulcanicos, who play in the Fogo island

league.• Most of the country’s money is made from agriculture (wine and coffee), fishing,

and increasingly fromm tourists who come to the island to see the volcano that dominates its landscape..

LESSON PLANPART 1Divide the class into groups, representing:• Miners• Farmers• Stonemasons• Electricity producers• The tourism bureau• The government

Groups then take a few minutes to read their group briefing sheet (one per person in each group), and think about why their group might be the best candidate for one of the free areas on Fogo Island.

PART 2Two people from each group talk for ±30s each, giving a reason why their group should get the land. Government group representatives talk on what they think are important factors in their decision to allocate the land. Groups who are listening should note on their sheets one reason per group as to why they think they should be given the land.

PART 3Groups discuss what they have heard, and decide who they would most like to share the land with as their second group. Groups should fill the ‘preference’ columnon their form with numbers, to indicate who they would most/least like to share the land with. They can make notes as to why, if desired.

PART 4Two (different?) people from each group talk for ±30s each on who their group believes they would like to share with and why. They can/should also mention who they would most not want to share with, and why.

PART 5Government group gets to ask some questions of the other groups, to help refine their ideas, and come to a decision as to who should get the new areas on the island.

PART 6Government awards the land.

FOGO ISLAND, CAPE VERDEThe huge volcano in the center of Fogo last erupted in 1675, and the island has been quiet since then, although nobody lives in areas A and B, where the volcano destroyed much of the land.

More than two hundred years have passed since the volcano erupted, though. While the volcano is still active, and might erupt again one day, the government of Fogo has decided to let members of the island community apply to be given one of the two areas of free land on the island.

THE MINING ASSOCIATION OF FOGO

You represent the miners of Fogo, and would like to be given one one of the areas of land that is available on the side of the old volcano, in order to be able to mine there. A rare type of magma from the volcano has brought diamonds and many other precious metals to the surface of the island, and if you were able to mine the area, you would be able to make a great deal of money for the island, and perhaps even provide work for a number of jewellers and other people on the island who would be able to work with the precious metals and stones that you could dig out.

GROUP REASON PREFERENCEFOGO FARMERS FOUNDATION

FOGO ELECTRIC

FOGO STONEMASON’S GUILD

FOGO TOURISM

MINING ASSOCIATION OF FOGO

THE FOGO FARMERS FOUNDATION

You represent the farmers of Fogo, and would like to be given one one of the areas of land that is available on the side of the old volcano. The volcanic soil in the area around the volcano is incredibly rich in minerals that would make your crops grow large and healthy. Being able to farm on the side of the volcano would mean that more of the poorest people on Fogo might be able to start farms of their own, or work on larger farms that will be built there. Compared to many other uses of the area, farming costs very little to get started, and can make sure that people on the island have a range of delicious food all year round.


FOGO ELECTRIC


FOGO TOURISM


FOGO ELECTRIC

You are the national electricity company in Fogo, responsible for making sure that there is enough electricity for all of the island’s needs. By using the heat that remains under the ground beside the volcano, you can create a new geothermal power plant that will harness this heat and turn it into electricity that the island will need as it grows over time. The side of the volcano is an ideal site for setting up an expensive new power plant, as there is a huge amount of heat under the ground, and the area is so far away from the capital of Fogo that nobody will be affected by the building and running of the large power station.


FOGO ELECTRIC


FOGO TOURISM



You are the stone masons on Fogo, quarrying valuable stone from mountains on the island and turning it into building materials for new homes and businesses on the island. You would like to be givenone of the new areas on the island, as the old erup-tion has brought a huge amount of granite rock to the surface in the area, and you could make good use of it if you were allowed to mine it out. Granite is so valuable that you might even be able to export some of what you mine, in order to bring more money to the island, as well as being able to create new jobs for people in the new stone mines that you would set up.


FOGO ELECTRIC


FOGO TOURISM


FOGO TOURISM

You are the tourist office for Fogo, responsible for attracting new visitors to the is-land. Fogo gets thousands of tourists every year, coming to see the beautiful natural wildlife, and the huge volcano at the center of the island. You would like to have the area around the volcano so that you can preserve it as the Fogo Volcano Park. This would be a nature reserve in which tourists and people from Fogo can come and see the volcano, relax, and even take guided tours to go up to the edge of the volcano and look in. The park would create dozens of new jobs for tour guides, drivers, and many other roles, and if it were managed well, it would bring tourists to the country for many, many years.


FOGO ELECTRIC


FOGO TOURISM


THE GOVERNMENT OF FOGO

As the government of Fogo, you have decided to open up the two areas next to the volcano for use by residents of the island, and have asked them to persuade you as to which group is best suited to being given areas A and B (the areas must be giv-en to two different groups). Within the government, you must appoint four people to represent the four ministries of Fogo. These are the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Safety, the Minister of Development, and the Minister of Employment.

As the government, you must try to find two candidates to share the island’s free space that will satisfy these four ministries. Not everyone might be compeltely happy with the choice, but as the government, you will need to do the best you can.


FOGO ELECTRIC


FOGO TOURISM


fogo island - noisy classroom• fogo island is a real island in cape verde, with an active volcano...

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